Monday, June 27, 2011

The Words Continue!

Writing is a tricky game, especially in English where rules are mostly adapted from its parent languages and are often contradictory at best. The referees of the game do their best for all of us: our teachers back in 9th Grade English worked unbelievably hard to make sure we knew the rules and followed them. But honestly, didn't we all have better things to think about in 9th grade than the proper placement of the fifth and ninth letters of the alphabet within a word?

Thanks to those tireless referees, we all know that "I comes before E, except after C" but how do you keep all of those exceptions straight? Oh, sure, there's the easy-to-remember additions to the rule, like "except when sounding like 'a' as in neighbor and weigh" and "weird is just weird", but then what about 'deity', 'science'? They're completely unruly, refusing to conform to the norm! The word 'foreign' always makes me double take to make sure I've got it right.
So, how do you know what the exceptions are? Sometimes, you just have to memorize them, or you can keep your Mirriam-Webster handy. If you find, however, that you need a little extra help getting the rules straight, that's what I'm here for.

FREE CONSULTATION!

Basic Proofreading: $12 an hour.
Basic proofreading includes correcting spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors only. Most web writing, articles and essays are proof-able in under an hour, and I never charge for a full hour that I didn't work! Basic Editing: $15 an hour
Basic editing consists of basic proofreading and overall suggestions to tighten up your writing, aid in clarity, and help with word choices.In-Depth Editing: Starts at $18.00 an hour, and may be more depending on the project.
In-depth editing means helping you examine your work paragraph by paragraph and rebuild it into something that you love and your readers will love even more.Elizabeth Oakeselizabeth.l.oakes@gmail.com